“I don’t have a problem with that,” Jalen replied with a nod. “I actually think it’s a great idea.”
As the rest of the girls trickled into the living room, Mikal turned the television on and started a Marvel movie. Nathan complained for all of two seconds until she saw Groot dancing on the screen.
“Dad, Rohan, we’re doing a movie night and snacks since Kodi’s going to her party. You should come,” Mikal told them, eyes still on the television as they were halfway through the movie.
“I’d love to, but I have plans I shouldn’t break,” Vega told her. “We can go get ice cream tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Mikal responded. “Rohan, what about you? You could stay here if we finish late. You never stay over.”
Kids had a way of saying things and making them sound normal, and this was one of those times. She was right; he didn’t stay over, but it was out of respect for them. Whenever he and Jalen spent the night together, it was at his house. He turned his attention to Jalen instead of answering Mikal right away.
“She has a point,” Jalen told him with a smile.
“That sounds like fun, Mikal,” Rohan replied to the eleven-year-old.
When the movie ended, Kodi stood and stretched, announcing she was going to take a nap. He was sure that she was tired. She’d been on the go for the past several weeks. Jalen had informed him that Kodi had several classmates who had booked her to do their hair for prom. However, she’d only taken a few and had done none the day of, instead focusing on herself. Not to mention, once she’d gotten her acceptance letter in April, she’d been planning everything she needed to buy to take with her, and everything she needed to do before then.
“What time are you going to the party?” Jalen asked.
“I’m going to leave at eight. I’ll probably call an Uber in case you need your car,” Kodi told her.
“If you aren’t going to drink, you can take mine,” Rohan told her.
“Really? Thanks, and I don’t drink.”
Kodi went down the hallway as Omari asked Rohan if he’d draw with her. When he told her he would, she skipped down thehall, returning with a long piece of craft paper and her coloring box. Nathan wanted to join and pulled Landon along, which then turned into all of them sitting around the kitchen table, drawing on different sections of the paper.
At some point, Landon drew different flowers, and the twins were excited to color them in, bouncing around the table as Landon drew them all around the paper.
When six o’clock rolled around, he stood to head home and pack a bag. He told Jalen to order whatever they wanted for movie night, and he’d pick it up on his way back. As he slid behind the wheel of his vehicle, Rohan smiled to himself. He’d felt it for a while, but he always enjoyed the feeling he got around them. As if he’d extended his family, and in reality, he had.
????????????
Jalen and Rohan were putting away the leftover pizza after they’d finished the first movie. The girls had gone to take a bath before they started the next one. She suggested they do so since it was going on nine, and she was sure at least the twins would be asleep by the time they got into the next movie.
Once they were finished, they returned to the living room. Jalen sat on the couch with her elbow propped up on the back of it. Rohan pulled her feet into his lap.
“I thought that for your birthday next month, I could take you somewhere for the weekend,” he told her.
Jalen thought about it for a moment. It’d been a while since she had gone away somewhere, even for a weekend. It had been last summer, to be exact, because she always made it a point to take her sisters on some sort of vacation when they were out of school. It would be nice, but she didn’t want to leave Kodi to take care of the others for the entire weekend, and while Landon had seemed to come out of her phase, she didn’t want something tohappen and the two of them to be at each other’s throats. Not to mention that if that was when Kodi wanted to visit Vega, Jalen wouldn’t ask her to postpone simply because she wanted to go away with Rohan for a couple of days.
“Before you overthink it. If you want to, my mother has already volunteered to have the girls over for the weekend.”
She thought about it for a moment. She didn’t have a problem with them spending the weekend with Vivian. They’d already spent the weekend after Christmas with her and the weekend after Valentine’s Day, so that she and Rohan could have some alone time. Jalen had also gotten over feeling as if she was imposing on the older woman, even when Vivian was the one who asked. She genuinely seemed excited to spend time with her sisters.
“Okay, where are we going?” she inquired.
“It’s a surprise,” Rohan returned before gently massaging her feet.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done anything for her birthday that didn’t comprise her sisters making her a cake, or cupcakes, and spending the day with them. She’d always enjoyed those days, never thought of spending her birthday any other way.
A small part of her wanted to feel guilty because the prospect of doing something with Rohan excited her. However, she reminded herself that she wasn’t breaking the tradition they’d inadvertently set; she was just expanding it. She still wanted those cupcakes that Mikal would frost too heavily or the twins would load with sprinkles, and she still wanted to spend the day with them.
It was about forty-five minutes later when all the girls returned to the living room. Jalen had started letting the twins handle their own bath times a couple of months ago at theirrequest. She had agreed, but let them know she would help if they needed it.
It was Omari’s turn to choose a movie since Nathan had chosen the other one, and Mikal chose before movie night even started. Omari choseEncanto. Jalen wasn’t surprised since it’d become her favorite, and Nathan had already chosenMoana.
She had been proven correct about the twins falling asleep when they were halfway through the movie, and Nathan climbed into Rohan’s lap, laying her head back against his chest while Omari lay across Landon’s back. Three-quarters of the way through the movie, they were both asleep.
